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Amazon may rule the public cloud today, but more developers have faith in Google's prospects going into the future, according to new research.

Evans Data released a report on Tuesday measuring how software developers perceive web-based computing providers like Amazon, Microsoft, AT&T, Google, Rackspace and Hewlett-Packard. More than 400 developers were asked to rate the companies based on criteria such as current capabilities, ability to execute on their vision, scalability and security.

Evans measured companies using a decidedly Gartner-esque Magic Quadrant, plotting "completeness of solution" and "ability to execute" on different axis of its chart below. As with Gartner, it pays to be in the top right-hand corner of the Evans' quadrant.

When it comes to current position in the market, devs rated Amazon and Google way on top, with Amazon receiving the edge. Google, however, was believed to have a better ability to execute on its cloud service strategy.

As they see it: how developers rate leaders and followers in cloud computing

Amazon and Google topping the list is unsurprising given the their early entrance and heavy push into the market. The next three companies in terms of perceived completeness of their services were IBM, Microsoft, and VMware respectively.

Moving to the horizontal axis of yonder chart: we see while Microsoft is considered to have a capable cloud solution, it lags behind Sun, HP, Citrix, VMware, IBM, Amazon and Google when it comes to developer confidence in their offerings.

IBM meanwhile, appears to have been quite successful in pitching its ability to provide cloud services despite its relative late entry into the public cloud market.

IBM was also the top choice when it comes to perceived security. About 21.7 per cent said IBM is the best in guarding from data loss and leaks. Amazon was second with 20.2 per cent, VMware third with 9.9 per cent, followed by Microsoft with 9.1 per cent, Google with 8.7 per cent, and Sun with 7.5 per cent.

In terms of scalability, Google wins the race. About 31.0 per cent of those polled said the company has the most resources available to accommodate a highly dynamic application. Amazon was a distant second with 17.8 per cent, then Microsoft with 10.9 per cent, IBM with 8.9 per cent, and VMWare with 7 per cent.

Google also trounced the competition when the devs were polled about reliability, latency, lack of vendor lock-in and cost-to-value ratio.

The Evans poll was conducted in September, so the results should include any PR fallout from Google's well-publicized outages that month. Clearly Google is doing something right in publicity.

According to Evans: "Amazon, who was first to market in the public cloud space, now shares the leadership opposition for publicly accessible clouds with Google. However, Google shows more strength in both perceived capabilities and perceived ability to execute, and the adoption patterns for Google are stronger going into the future. Google is likely to be the top performer in the public cloud space."

So is there something inherently better in Google's cloud-based voodoo? What do you think?

A copy of the report is available free here, although registration is required. ®